Hybridmancer
The Hybridmancer is a Necromancer build that combines the spells of the Bonemancer with the potential of the Summonmancer to outnumber his enemies. Description The hybrid build is a build consisting of a mix between the aforementioned Summoning and Bone skills. It utilizes defense and offense, along with a balanced minion system that makes it highly efficient against any difficulty and any area. The build allows for quick movement and killing, while keeping a versatile arsenal of spells for any area, including Bone spells for attacking specific monsters. It also allows for the exchange of Bone spells for Poison spells, for added power if needed. Many of the items can be interchanged with others to increase power of either/or section one wishes to choose in this build. It is often referred to as the Lazymancer build, as you can simply cast Amplify Damage on the monsters and your minions will slaughter them within seconds, allowing you to basically walk through the entire game without clicking an unnecessary amount of times. Stats Placing your stats is not very difficult to do, you should only increase your Strength as much as needed to use your equipment, as for the Dexterity and Energy, they should not be touched within this build, as excessive Mana is not needed. The rest of your points should go solely into Vitality. With Bone Armor having a decent amount of absorbing ability, your only weakness are purely magical spells, which is why the increased vitality is necessary. The build's true strength lies in the skeletons, but with the finished build, Bone Spirit/Spear will be dealing decent damage as well, so destroying run-away minions will not be so difficult in the end. But only in the high levels does this benefit really shine. Skills Summoning Skills *Skeleton Mastery - 20, Raise Skeleton - 20 *Clay Golem - 1 *Golem Mastery - 1, Raise Skeletal Mage - 1 *Blood Golem - 1 *Summon Resist - 1, Iron Golem - 1 Optional *Fire Golem - 1 Poison & Bone Spells *Teeth - 1, Bone Armor - 1 *Corpse Explosion - 1 *Bone Wall - 20 *Bone Spear - 1 *Bone Prison - 20 *Bone Spirit - 11 Optional *Poison Dagger - 20 *Poison Explosion - 20 *Poison Nova - 20 Curses *Amplify Damage - 1 *Weaken - 1 *Decrepify - 1 Optional *Iron Maiden - 1, Terror - 1 *Life Tap - 1 *Lower Resist - 1 The optional skills are for those who would rather choose Poison Nova over Bone spells, however, maxing out Bone Wall/Prison enables good defense on Bone Armor as well as good damage from Bone Spirit. You can place more points into Bone Spirit for additional damage, if you exclude Iron Maiden, Life Tap, Lower Resist and Fire Golem from the skill list. These are merely luxury skills used for various occasions. Items The items for the Necromancer have to be specific, as his Strength will be strained and limited in expendable points. This is done to maximize Life. Character Items *Head: Harlequin Crest *Armor: *Shield: Boneflame Or Homunculus *Weapon: *Secondary Weapon: *Secondary Shield: Spirit Rune Word *Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope *Ring: Stone of Jordan *Belt: Arachnid Mesh *Glove: Trang-Oul's Claws *Boots: Marrowwalk *Charm: Hellfire Torch *Charm: Annihilus At a glance, the items are typical, and used quite often. The reason for this is you want the maximum + to skills as possible. It is best to get Boneflame ethereal, or a non-ethereal for high resistances. Homunculus is best ethereal and upped, for better defense. Mercenary Items *Head: Or Andariel's Visage *Armor: *Weapon: Or It is preferred if you get an Act II mercenary as they work extremely well with Summonmancers. Infinity mercenaries work best with the Might aura, however, if you choose to go and forgo the , using Blessed Aim is a good choice, as your Skeletons will have high attack rating, but not enough to hit as often. Infinity lowers monsters resists by -85%, which helps them strike much more often, Blessed Aim also works but it is pointless with Infinity, as the need for attack rating is eliminated with the lower defense. Bramble is used mainly for the Skeletons luxury, the Thorns aura deals impressive damage to the attackers, as the damage is doubled with Amplify Damage, making it much more useful than Iron Maiden. Iron Golem * The Iron Golem is very important when made out of Beast, it is highly recommended that a Beast is made out of a with 5 sockets, the damage is low enough to slide past the damaging effects of Iron Maiden that are cast by Oblivion Knights (note-In patch 1.13, Iron Maiden has been removed from the Oblivion Knight's Curses). The golem is not meant for damage as much as buffing your main force: the skeletons. The golem may vanish if you run away too far, so it is best to teleport every so often to keep his appearance in check. Fortunately, maxing Golem Mastery and Iron Golem is not necessary, the golem can tank without either of those maxed out with no problems. Strategy When using this build, it is wise to walk a few paces and teleport only when necessary, your Bone Armor can take a beating, but unfortunately it cannot withstand massive amounts of damage should you teleport into the wrong crowd. One of the best strategies for Chaos Sanctuary, is to take it slowly. Teleporting too much, too quickly can get your army obliterated in a matter of seconds from Iron Maiden, including your mercenary. (note-In patch 1.13, Iron Maiden has been removed from the Oblivion Knight's Curses) Dealing with Bosses is an entirely different matter, it is best to teleport on top and run away quickly, then cast Decrepify and let your skeletons take them down. This build can also do battle with the Ubers, but this requires the Blunderbore or one of their variations, as they have the stun ability which helps keep the Ubers in check. Although with a Beast Golem in your summoned arsenal, it is not recommended, unless you have no problem risking losing him.